


Hunting

by littlemiss_m



Series: HOME, a series [13]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: (i can't believe that was an actual tag), Birthday Presents, Dad!Cor, Gen, Photography, Reminiscing, and cor knows it, prompto argentum is too good for this world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 12:45:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14189253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemiss_m/pseuds/littlemiss_m
Summary: For Cor's birthday, Prompto sends him down the memory lane.





	Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place towards the beginning of the year Prompto and Noctis turn 18.

It's not that late in the evening when Cor drags his feet home, an overflowing bag of groceries in one hand and a pack of beer in the other. The apartment is dark and Prompto's favorite sneakers are missing from the entrance way, though he'd already received a text saying the blond would spend the night at Noctis' place so it's no surprise to find the place empty. It's the only reason Cor felt comfortable enough to buy the beer, anyways. He doesn't drink around Prompto.

The door to Prompto's room is propped open and a stream of light falls on the hallway floor. Cor ignores this at first, instead stepping into the kitchen to empty his arms. The remnant of his birthday cake is one slice smaller than it was in the morning but he pays it no mind as he unloads the groceries into the fridge and the kitchen cabinets. He washes his hands in the sink and while drying them, remembers the lights in Prompto's room. Not thinking much of it, Cor heads for the smaller bedroom, only to stop dead in his tracks at the door.

There's a new light fixture in the room, the kind that's usually meant for showing of artworks. The furniture has been rearranged, mostly to fit the dresser in a place where it doesn't cover the painting, striking under the harsh lights of the otherwise dark room. Above the original painting, a new photograph has been hung on the wall, one Cor is fairly sure was taken two summers ago when Prompto got the job at the chocobo post in Duscae. Slowly, on cautious feet, Cor approaches the photograph.

Like the painting, it depicts him standing next to a yellow chocobo. The photograph has been blown in size to match the painting, and even the framing looks like the same he used those thirteen, fourteen years earlier. Smiling, Cor looks down at the three stickers plastered on the wall between the the artworks; one of them is the original, written in the neatest handwriting he was capable of when the idea first struck him. Above that one, Prompto has added the second sticker:

_Prompto Argentum_  
_16 years old_  
_”Coco 'n Boco, revised”_

Cor huffs a laugh and turns to read the third sign, this one larger than the first two and glued neatly next to the others.

_HOME, a series_  
_by Prompto Argentum_

Home, huh. Cor eyes the two pictures for a moment longer before flicking off the light. Darkness falls in a flash and he exits the room, wiping dampness from his eyes as he leaves.

* * *

Regis and Clarus have invited themselves over for a more grown-up birthday party, i.e. drinking and reminiscing, but Cor has almost a full hour left before they're set to arrive with the food. He plops down on the couch and turns on the TV with practised ease, and it's not until he spots the overturned corner of the living room rug that his brain really begins to tick. Cor stares at the carpet for a moment, then slowly lifts his gaze up to the bookshelves behind it. He knows from too many years of experience that the doors on the bottom shelves are just wide enough to catch on the carpet's edge when opened; he also knows he hasn't been anywhere near that particular section, and that the contents inside are of no interest to Prompto.

The sticker in Prompto's rooms reads _HOME, a series_ in neat print. Cor swallows and gets up from the couch, kneels down on the carpet and opens the door. At first, he only sees binders full of important papers, but there's a little something peeking out from behind them and he hurries to empty the upper shelf. He's rewarded by two photographs taped onto the back of the shelf, both of which he recognizes, and his expression gets stuck somewhere between a grin and a gasp.

The first picture was taken by Clarus on a day when Cor somehow ended up babysitting Gladio and Prompto at the same time. In the photograph, a three-year-old Prompto is trying to set a badly made flower chain on Gladio's head while Cor stands behind them, cut away at the waist. The memory of the day makes Cor snort; as soon as the flowers touched Gladio's hair, the otherwise cheery six-year-old boy had burst out in big, fat tears so uncharacteristic of him that Cor had only been able to watch stunned as the scene unfolded before his eyes. Clarus, for his part, managed to snap a picture of the very moment Gladio began to wail. It's a hilarious memory, now, but back then it was anything but.

Cor traces the picture with his fingertips before turning to the second one. Like the set in Prompto's room, this too is a recreation of the older photograph. Cor wants to be furious at himself for not realizing what was going on, but he's too awed by Prompto's guile to really care. The photograph is from the previous summer; Cor remembers the BBQ at the Amicitia manor, and how Prompto talked Gladio into a photoshoot by boosting his already massive ego further. In Cor's memories, he was asked to hold a piece of photography equipment, one of those large reflector things, while Prompto arranged a crown of flowers over Gladio's hair.

In hindsight, he should've seen it. He didn't, and the realization of being outsmarted by _Prompto Argentum_ of all people makes Cor laugh until he's wiping tears from his eyes.

This thing is starting to look like the sweetest, most heartfelt birthday gift Cor has ever received before, and he's only started.

* * *

The treasure hunt through Cor's apartment takes all his attention. He finds two pictures of himself, Monica, and Dustin in the kitchen cupboard, and another of him, Regis, and Clarus sitting on the living room bookshelves right next to the older version of the shot. One massive frame holding an entire series of photographs of him, Gladio, and Iris is hidden in the closet in the entrance way, carefully propped up against the back wall behind all the coats and other pieces of clothing. Smirking, Cor rearranges the coats so the frame isn't visible and carries on.

There's one more piece in Prompto's room, one Cor almost doesn't find. He's not sure what drives him to do it but he peeks behind the dresser where it now sits next to the door, then pulls it away from the wall when he spots the gleam of photography paper behind it. This arrangement consists of a dozen photographs around a painting; Cor's throat constricts when he sees it, because it was the first gift he ever received from Prompto. The paper is almost entirely red, only a small smudge of something green in the middle and black letters in John's handwriting in the bottom right corner. _Prompto, 2 years old, to uncle Cor_ says the text.

In the sixteen years since, Cor hasn't been able to decipher the secret of the thick layers of fingerpaint. Neither has Prompto, it seems, since the twelve photographs all portray a different version of the same scene; one is a close-up of a tomato with the green stalk still attached, and another looks like a little leaf on something shiny and metallic. It takes Cor a moment before he places the color and recognizes Ignis' sports car.

He studies the photographs for another moment longer, dwells on the simple ingenuity in their theme and creation. Cor doesn't know much about art, doesn't know what's good or bad or talented, but even he can see the skill in the shots. When he's done admiring them, he gets up from the floor and pushes the dresser back to its new place. It's heavier than the last time he moved it, full of Prompto's clothes and other personal items. In the past, the dresser was always empty, waiting for guests he didn't want to invite.

From Prompto's room, Cor heads towards his own. He's not thinking about time, has already forgotten about Clarus and Regis coming over; all he feels is the pull of his room and the certainty that there's _something_ waiting for him inside, something big and important. It takes him a moment of peeking behind every door in the room, then in the ensuite, but it's not until he returns to the bedroom that he notices the new frame on his table. It's one of the two-sided photograph frames meant to portray two different photographs at once and as soon as Cor sees the first picture, he has to sit down on the edge of his bed. Tears prickle the corners of his eyes but he doesn't mind.

Cor flips the frame over and studies the second photograph, shocked and full of disbelief over himself. Like the one in Prompto's room, this one was also taken at the chocobo ranch and shows the blond teen sitting on the back of his favorite chocobo, trying to lick at a bloody cut on his forefinger. He has a chocobo feather stuck in his hair and is pouting at Cor, who is holding onto his wrist in an attempt to keep him from getting his mouth on the wound. Like the first photograph, this one's a little shaky as well; Noctis was laughing when he took it. Cor counts back to all the photographs he's found so far and realizes he's been in almost all of them, and that he had no idea of Prompto planning something like this.

Cor stares at the picture until he hears the doorbell ring.

* * *

He lets Regis and Clarus into the apartment and knows, even as he takes the pizzas and take-out boxes from them, that they can see there's something going on with him. Cor doesn't waste any time, cocks his head towards the bedrooms and says, ”Start from Prompto's room.” Clarus and Regis share a look but do as told, disappearing down the hallway as Cor dumps the food on the dining table and begins searching for the pizza cutter.

”So that's what the kid's been planning,” Clarus murmurs when he steps back into the kitchen. ”Hey, you said start–”

Cor flings open the cupboard door with pictures of him, Dustin, and Monica on the inside. ”Check the closet next to the front door,” he says. He finds the pizza cutter and turns to face Regis. ”You knew?”

Regis shrugs and begins unfolding the first pizza box. ”Prompto has been going around asking people for little favors for – let's see – almost two years now? Honestly, I had forgotten about the whole thing until now. He never explained what exactly it was he was doing, only that it was a surprise for you and that we weren't allowed to tell.”

Cor snorts. ”I counted almost twenty different people in those pictures, and that's just the ones I've found.” He cuts the first pizza in half, then again and again until the slices are a good size. Clarus returns to the kitchen when Cor turns to discard the cutter.

”That sure is a lot of pictures,” he laughs, immediately reaching for a slice.

”Yeah?” Cor smirks. ”Remember Gladio and the flower chain? The playdate of doom? Cause he got that one, too.”

Clarus chortles while Regis raises an eyebrow. ”I'll show you later, I've got a copy at my desk,” he says. ”Damn, that kid's crafty. I can't believe he got Gladio to agree to it, he's always hated that photograph. Probably would burn it if he thought he'd get away with it.”

They all laugh. ”Oh, Cor, I noticed you're in both the pictures I've seen,” Regis points out suddenly. ”Did you play along or–”

Cor shakes his head. ”I had no idea he was doing this,” he says, feeling no shame over his admission; his heart is warm and light. ”I'm in nearly all of the photographs and I never noticed a damn thing.”

”To be fair, I'm more surprised that no-one spilled the beans to you,” Clarus says. ”It looks like there were a lot of people involved in this, and no-one said a thing. Impressive.”

Cor nods and reaches behind himself for the fridge and the beers, hoping the bottles have cooled down at least some. He grabs three bottles and sets them on the dining table, but as he turns to close the door, he notices something stuck behind one of the magnets, a small square make-your-own thing Prompto ordered online. His snort catches Regis and Clarus' attention and they watch him pluck the magnet from the door. A small photograph flutters down to the floor and Cor smiles as he bends to pick it up.

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the last piece in this series; I still have three more planned, one of which is almost done. Unfortunately I'm really struggling to get those pieces written in a way I'd be satisfied with, and especially the almost-finished fic is driving me insane. Bad news: I'm taking a short break from this series. Good news 1: I'll come back. Good news 2: I have three finished fics ready and waiting to be posted, so if you like my stories, there's still more to come and I'll keep on posting every other day as usual.
> 
> I'm so sorry to do this, I know I have a lot of readers who've been following this series for a while now, but I really don't want to post things I don't like myself. I'll post one oneshot and a five-chapter fic, which will take almost two weeks, and after that I'll try to have at least one piece ready in this series.


End file.
